ichor means the liquid said to flow in place of blood in the veins of the gods. It carries an Arena rating of 1799, earned across 68 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, ichor ranks #166 of 42,749 for Qualifying, #243 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words, #398 of 17,124 for Most Sublime Words, #650 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words.
ichor is pronounced /ˈaɪkɔː/.
Why “ichor” is a great word
The ethereal fluid that flows like blood in the veins of the gods, or a watery, often fetid discharge from a wound or sore. From Medieval Latin ichor, from Ancient Greek ῑ̓χώρ (īkhṓr, 'fluid in the veins of gods, ichor; serum; pus'), a word of probable Pre-Greek origin. First used in English in the 15th century in the medical sense and in the 1630s for the mythological sense. Unlike blood, the pulsing scarlet tide of vitality, or pus, the thick, opaque signature of corruption, ichor occupies an uncanny middle realm—the luminous nectar of immortality and its pale, acrid echo in the mortal wound. It is the golden trickle from a god's wounded wrist, the serous weeping of a bedsore, and the cold, clear drip from a broken celestial clockwork—the sublime and the septic, two aspects of the same leaking world.
Etymology
Sense 1 (“liquid said to flow in place of blood in the veins of the gods”) is borrowed from Medieval Latin ichor, from Ancient Greek ῑ̓χώρ (īkhṓr, “fluid running through the veins of gods, ichor; watery part of blood, lymph, serum; watery part of milk, whey; gravy; pus; naphtha”); further etymology unknown, probably from Pre-Greek. Sense 2.4 (“fetid, watery discharge from a sore”) is from Middle English icor, icore [and other forms], from Medieval Latin ichor; see further above.
noun
- The liquid said to flow in place of blood in the veins of the gods.
- The blood of human beings or animals; also (obsolete) the clear, fluid portion of blood; blood plasma, plasma.
- A blood-like fluid.
- A fluid believed to seep out from magma and cause rock to turn into granite.
- A fetid, watery discharge from a sore; pus.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- ichoroid 73% match — Denoting a thin discharge of pus. vs ichor →
- atter 48% match — Poisonous bodily fluid, especially venom of a venomous animal, such as a snake, dragon or other reptile; corrupt or morbid matter from the body, such as pus from a sore or wound; bitter substance, such as bile. vs ichor →
- latex 47% match — A clear liquid believed to be a component of a humour or other bodily fluid (esp. plasma and lymph). vs ichor →
- chylaqueous 46% match — Consisting of chyle diluted with water; pertaining to diluted digestive juices, especially those that circulate in organisms that do not have a highly organized digestive system. vs ichor →
- lochiorrhea 45% match — A profuse flow of lochia. vs ichor →
- cacochymic 45% match — Having the fluids of the body vitiated, especially the blood. vs ichor →
- echidnine 45% match — The clear, viscid fluid secreted by the poison glands of certain snakes. vs ichor →
- archeus 45% match — The vital principle or force believed by the Paracelsians to be responsible for alchemical reactions within living bodies, and hence for the growth and continuation of life. vs ichor →